When was the last time you walked around a Langley neighbourhood, just for the sake of having a look around?
This coming Saturday, tens of thousands of people will descend on Aldergrove for the latest Langley Good Times Cruise-In.
It’ll be a great chance to see some classic and custom cars, grab a burger, and spend time with family and friends.
It’s also one of the best things about living in Langley – spending time walking around one of our many downtown core areas.
Because Langley is, as we are frequently reminded, a “community of communities,” we don’t have just one central area. We have multiple neighbourhoods, each with its own history and sense of place. And for several of those, we have festivals that allow us to meander and soak in the local atmosphere.
The Cruise-In is likely the most well-known, but Fort Langley has both the Cranberry Festival and the Jazz and Arts Festival. Langley City has its Arts Alive and Fork & Finger events.
Even parks and rural areas have had big events, like Rivers Day, and Campbell Valley Regional Park’s long-running Country Celebration – here’s hoping that one makes a comeback after being derailed by COVID.
This year’s Cruise-In will be a great chance for a family-friendly event that, ironically for a car show, will also be one of the region’s biggest pedestrian events.
Especially after two-plus years of COVID-19 lockdowns and pre-caution, outdoor festivals like Cruise-In allow us to reconnect in safety, to explore our communities without busy traffic, and to have some fun.
Hopefully, we’ll see the Cruise-In keep coming back for many more years, and we hope to see every Langley neighbourhood develop its own version of the local festival, too.
– M.C.
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